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BLT and DDEV -- Together!

BLT (Build and Launch Tool) provides an automation layer for testing, building, and launching Drupal 8 applications. It is the default recommended tool used by Acquia Professional Services.

We use BLT in Professional Services to sync databases, manage configurations, create artifacts for deployments, and tons of other things that -- most of the time -- save us time. If you have not tested it yet I’d recommend you to have a look: https://github.com/acquia/blt

DDEV, on the other hand, is a Docker-based, open source tool that helps you to quickly spin up a (local) environment in applications like Wordpress; Drupal 6, 7 and 8; Backdrop, and Typo3. Have a look at https://github.com/drud/ddev

DDEV is not the only Docker-based tool like this that exists right now, but what I love is the simplicity and speed on getting a local environment up and running.

That’s it. Your site is available in the url that DDEV gave you earlier.

Some things that still need some polishing are the docroot path. I would change that to what BLT is using (/var/www/html), so we’ll avoid issues related to specifics in BLT itself. We’ll try to do a follow up post with our findings.

NOTE: This article is not an endorsement by Acquia, but a personal preference by myself (Alex Moreno) for some particular tasks or projects. Each project can be different, and the complexities, nature and problems to solve may require other solutions and or tools. Talk to our PS team in case of any questions.

BLT (Build and Launch Tool) provides an automation layer for testing, building, and launching Drupal 8 applications. It is the default recommended tool used by Acquia Professional Services.

We use BLT in Professional Services to sync databases, manage configurations, create artifacts for deployments, and tons of other things that -- most of the time -- save us time. If you have not tested it yet I’d recommend you to have a look: https://github.com/acquia/blt

DDEV, on the other hand, is a Docker-based, open source tool that helps you to quickly spin up a (local) environment in applications like Wordpress; Drupal 6, 7 and 8; Backdrop, and Typo3. Have a look at https://github.com/drud/ddev